Slippery Rock University

College of
HEALTH • ENVIRONMENT • SCIENCE
School of Physical Therapy; Departments of Allied Health, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, Exercise and Rehabilitative Sciences, Geography,
Geology and the Environment, Mathematics, Nursing, Parks and Recreation, Environmental Education, and Psychology; the Robert A. Macoskey Center
for Sustainable Systems Education and Research;
SRU, Clarion and Edinboro
universities form minoritynursing
scholarship in honor of
Pittsburgh nursing pioneer
Many students who graduated from the
Pittsburgh Public School District might
not recognize Hattie Turk’s name, but they
owe a lot to the leadership she exerted
when she led the district’s health services.
And now her inspired leadership, in
multiple settings, is being acknowledged by
the creation of a scholarship in her name.
The Hattie Turk Scholarship for
Advanced Practice Nursing Students is the
brainchild of the Minority Mentoring
Committee of the Clarion, Edinboro and
Slippery Rock Universities Master of
Science in Nursing Program.
“Nursing is a good profession offering opportunities to make a
difference in the lives of the members of our communities while
earning a good living in a career where every day offers a
challenge,” says nursing pioneer Hattie Turk, for whom a new
scholarship is named.
The committee consists of six African-
American family nurse practitioners who
graduated from the program and share an
interest in enabling other African-American
nurses to continue their educations at the
master’s degree level and a desire to
recognize Turk.
The committee recently launched a
$100,000 fund-raising campaign to fund
the scholarship, which the SRU
Foundation, Inc. will manage.
HELPING STUDENTS
Once funded, the Hattie Turk
Scholarship will provide up to $10,000
annually to students enrolled in the
graduate program.
Retired from the Pittsburgh Public
School District since 1997, Turk, of
Pittsburgh, was one of the first black
women to graduate from the University of
24 The Rock Summer/Fall 2005
Pittsburgh’s School of Nursing in 1956.
She went on to obtain a master’s degree in
education from Duquesne University, a
master’s in public management from
Carnegie Mellon and a certificate as a
nurse practitioner from the University of
Pittsburgh.
Her career also included 16 years as
director of health services at the
Community College of Allegheny County.
Storm Harbor Equestrian
Center going up
Under construction on the east side of
campus near N. Kerr Thompson Stadium,
SRU’s Storm Harbor Equestrian Center
will be completed this fall. The 16,640-
square-foot building includes an indoor
riding arena, 12 horse stalls, offices, a
kitchen and restrooms.
SRU will consolidate its equestrian team
and a riding program for children and
adults with disabilities at Storm Harbor.
Currently, the equestrian team and
Adapted Physical Activity Program operate
from off-campus stables.
The project was initiated with $380,000
in donations, including substantial gifts
from the late Ethel Carruth of Houston,
Texas, her daughter, Dr. Carolyn Carruth
Rizza, and son-in-law Dr. Paul Rizza, both
retired SRU faculty.
Not just another summer camp
Camp SportsVision fosters
growth, life-skills
Camp SportsVision at SRU, a creative
program that provides athletic
opportunities for children with blindness
or visual impairment, is emerging as a
model of excellence in the world of
adapted sports.
“It’s a mystical relationship between horse and child,” President
Smith said.
While children have fun and make new
friends, they also gain skills that will better
them for life. Their self-esteem increases by
doing new things. And all these factors
help the children gain their independence.
Forty children attended the 2005 camp,
run by faculty and student volunteers from
SRU’s Adapted Physical Activity Program.
Campers rode horses, played beep baseball,
swam, danced and scaled a rock-climbing
wall. Horseback riding was new.
The event was held by SportsVision,
a Pittsburgh non-profit organization,
SRU and the Adapted Physical Activity
Program. Children ages 6 to 18
participated.
Camp SportsVision
Objectives
• Discover undeveloped potential
• Increase self-confidence
• Improve physical vigor
• Promote awareness of
adapted sports
• Have fun